Shadow and Midnight
by PizzaGrenade
Summary: Opal has never been outside of Atlas, but with some gentle encouragement from her mother she decided to join Beacon academy to become a huntress. As she starts to make decisions on her own, will she make the right ones? Come follow her journey and a cast of all original RWBY characters as they make their own destiny.


"Are you excited to go to Beacon?"

Opal looked down at white vanity table in front of her. Different perfumes, hair clips, and make up littered the surface. The large oval mirror, polarized the table beneath it. Stark white vine decorations embroidered the mirror with crystalline lights shining onto Opal's pale freckled face. She looked up into the mirror. Her mother combed through her silky brown hair with a brush. She smiled softly as she helped her daughter ready herself for her trip.

Opal was the spitting image of her mother, from their deep brown hair, light freckled cheeks, and emerald green eyes. Though Opal wasn't as filled out as her mother was, body-wise, she still had growing to do.

Her mother's eyes shimmered in the reflection of the mirror, looking into Opal's. Opal looked down at her lap, her fingers fiddling with the hem of her green dress.

"I'm a little nervous," she answered, a little shake in her voice, "I won't know anyone."

"Hmm, maybe not at first," her mother said, "but I'm sure you'll make lots of friends while you are there," her fingers combed through Opal's locks, the brush following her gentle strokes, "you're wonderfully outgoing when you want to be."

_When I want to be_, Opal thought, _when is that?_

She was nervous about starting at Beacon academy. Her mother was more than insistent of her going out and exploring the world of Remnant of a huntress. Opal absolutely wanted to, but exploring out so soon made her stomach curl. She's never been outside of Atlas before. She wasn't sure she was ready, no matter how much her mother believed she was.

"I heard," her mother continued, "the young Weiss Schnee was wanting to go to Beacon, next year."

"R-Really?" Opal looked up at her mother, who smiled sweetly with a nod.

"You're not the only one leaving the comfort of Atlas."

Opal and Weiss had met before, a few times actually. They used to have play dates as young girls, their Father's being business partners made it very easy. The Schnee's and Idlerune's used to be very close on a financial standpoint. But, limited innovation on dust technology caused the Schnee Dust Company to no longer associate strongly with Idlerune Innovations. This, in turn, forced the young girls apart. Opal didn't know if Weiss would even remember her.

"Maybe next year, you can show her the ropes around Beacon."

"Yeah, m-maybe."

Opal looked down at her lap once more. Her mother moved beside her, facing her. She gently turned her daughter and lifted her chin to her face. Her sweet, beaming smile causing Opal's heart to warm. She smiled back at her mother.

"I'm so proud of you. Following after, Mommy's footsteps. I wish I could get back out there and be a huntress once more," her mother tucked a hair behind her ear, "but I'm too old for that now."

"You're not old, Mother." Opal giggled, leaning into her hand.

Her mother let out a soft chuckle, "thank you dear, but my time as a Huntress is over. It's your time now." Her face fell to a bit of sorrow, looking slightly away from her daughter.

Opal's heart felt colder as her mother's gaze fell, but she wanted to do her mother proud. If she couldn't be a hero once more, Opal would do it for her.

"Don't worry, I'll kick lots of monster butt!"

Her mother smiled and laughed happily, holding her daughter's cheek, "that's my girl." She stood up and moved behind her daughter. She took her hair into her hand, twirling it through her fingers and twisting it into a ponytail. Taking a barrette clip, with her family rune in the center, clasping it around Opal's ponytail before letting the hair fall down her back naturally. Her mother then took her fingers and ran them down her sidelocks, framing her face. "My beautiful girl."

Opal tilted her head back, looking up at her mother with a smile. He r mother leaned down and kiss her forehead.

"Now, come on, you have a flight to catch."

Her mother went with her to the family's private ship but only to see her off, being too busy with obligations she didn't want to discuss. It was her first time on a ship alone, as well, making this whole week full of firsts. The first half of the flight was long an honestly very lonely for Opal. She was pampered and was very aware, never being too far from her mother's side and never needed to worry about anything by herself. Her mother always kept her calm and helped guided her to make the right decisions. Decisions she was told were her own but with her mother holding her hand the whole time, she was no longer sure. The second half of the flight was a bit more stressful. As they got closer to beacon she began to worry and stress about.. well, everything.

What if she doesn't get good grades?

What if she doesn't make any friends?

What if she doesn't like the food?

What if this?

What if that?

It wasn't until they landed and her chauffeur called out her name that her mind snapped out of her worrying stare out the ship's window. She slowly rose to her feet, grabbing her weapon case from the seat next to her and followed the chauffeur off of the ship. He held out his hand to her and she took it, carefully walking down the steps of the ship before looking out before her. Her eyes widened as she let out a breathy, "wow," awed by the beauty of the school before her.

Large, white marble arches outlined the school, dwarfed only by the white and gray spiraling towers that made up most of the main building. In the center rose a massive tower, beaming like a lighthouse beacon, shining over the courtyard and the city down below the school's mighty cliff.

"Ms. Idlerune," the chauffeur called, "your father asked me to escort you to the main hall with your luggage."

"Oh yes, that would be-," Opal stopped herself. She remembered her mother encouraging her to be more independent once she's on her own, "N-No, that won't be necessary. You may take my bags, but I will not need any escort." She stood tall, feeling like this was the first decision she's truly made on her own.

The chauffeur nodded, directing a couple of workers off the plane, who carried her bags. They hurried off towards the school ahead of Opal. Opal smiled, crossing her arms behind her back and started making her way across the landing pad. Off in the distance she could see more ships arriving. Some larger, holding possibly hundreds of students, and others small. Private, like hers.

As opal stepped off the landing pad, she started up the stone paved walkway when she noticed a tall, blank slab, a thin plate of glass was fitted on the front. It was a holographic screen, there were similar one's in Atlas. As she approached, the screen flickered on. A woman stood in the holograph. An older beautiful blond woman, dressed formally with a black and purple, arrowed cape. There was a low speaker worble before she began to speak. Opal stopped and listened.

"Hello and welcome to Beacon," the holographic woman said, "my name is Glynda Goodwtich. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace and, as future huntsman and huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." The holographic slowly faded from the screen, the speakers making another low worble.

Opal looked down at her feet, her saddened look reflected in the glass.

She was selected, but would she have gotten here without everyone's help?

"Hey," a male voice said softly. Opal looked up from her feet, next to her was a tall, toned boy. The same age as her. He had bright, teal colored hair, pushed up and forward into a faux hawk. He wore some sort of dark leather armor, patched over his street clothes. On his back was a long staff, almost as tall as he was, with a blue crystal on the end of it. He stood around six feet tall, above Opal's five foot, four inches. He looked down at her with a soft smile. His eyes were as bright as his hair. "You alright?"

Opal took in a sharp breath and stood up straight, forcing a smile, "yeah, I'm fine. Just.. just got lost in my thoughts."

"Oh good," he said, seeming to believe her, "I'm Diamond by the way."

He held out his hand to her, she looked down at it and took it with her own. She tried to give it a firm squeeze but it was stronger than her own. She smiled anyway and shook his hand.

"I'm Opal," she responded, "Opal Idlerune."

He tilted his head, looking at her quizzically, "Idlerune? Where have I heard that name before?"

"Oh, it's.. uh.. a common name," she lied, not wanting her family name to possibly affect her friendship.

"Hmm, well it's a pretty cool name," he said, letting go of her hand.

Opal's eyes light up as she notices the wrist cuffs on his bracers. As his hand pulls away, she lunges her hand forward and grabs his wrist, pulling him closer to her. She held up the cuff to examine it, the purple dust crystal glimmered.

"That's a gravity dust crystal," she said excitedly, looking back up at him.

He laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head with his other hand, "Heh.. yeah.." He tugged his wrist out of her grip and took a step back. Holding out his hand to his side, the dust crystal glowed before the staff on his back glided quickly to his hand. He held out his staff forward and opened his fist. The staff spun around on his open palm before he grabbed it again and slammed the butt of his staff onto the ground. Opal beamed, her eyes sparkling at his performance.

He smirked, standing a bit cocky, "yeah, I use it to do cool stuff with my staff, makes me feel a bit like a badass."

"Ooo," Opal cooed, ignoring his words for the most part, looking more at the intricacies of his gravity dust implementation, "I've never seen anyone use it like that."

"Bit of a dust nut, huh?" he asked her.

Opal stood up straight and cleared her throat, wrapping her arms behind her back again. She looked off to the side, "you could say that," she said cheekily, she looked back him, "my semblance allows me to manipulate the energy itself. I can do loads of stuff with it."

_There you go bragging,_ she thought to herself.

"Oh cool," he said, "anything you can show me?"

"Oh yeah, let me jus-" she held up her hand, realizing she wasn't wearing her gauntlet. She looked around at the landing pad, "shoot.. they must of took it.."

"Who did?"

"Oh just these helper guys, that work here I guess," she lied again.

"There were no helper guys.." Diamond said in a low mumble.

There was another low worble over the loud speakers, "All first year students, please report to the grand hall, immediately." It sounded like the woman from the holographic.

"Oh shoot," Opal said. She looked up at Diamond, "guess we gotta get going."

"Alright," he said, they started to walk, "hey, show me that thing later?"

"Of course," she said, smiling at someone else having interest in her. She felt like she was making a friend. Or what she thought was making a friend. Then, a thought popped in her head. She smirked at him, "race you there!"

She took off running.

He yelled after her, "hey, wait up!"

She laughed and kept running. They chased each other through the crowd of other students, pushing their way up to the main building. She was surprised how well she was racing compared to a more well built huntsman. Well, huntsman in training.

She looked back at him, "last one there is a rotten neverm-," but looking back was a mistake as her run ended in a thud.

Opal fell back, collapsing onto her back. She winced, closing her eyes. Feeling like she ran into a wall or a heavy door. Opal slowly opened her eyes and to her surprise, looked up to see a girl, not much bigger than she was.

"Oop, better watch where you're running, lass," the girl smiled, holding out her hand to Opal.

Opal looked at her, slightly confused. This couldn't have been who she ran into, could it?

She took her hand and the girl hoisted her up, giving her a kind smile. She had dark purple hair, pulled up into bun. She wore a black button up shirt with one sleeve pulled up with armored pads on it. On her sleeve shoulder was a heart emblem. Her jeans were a dark purple, and so were her eyes.

"Yeah, thanks," Opal said, her cheeks burned slightly out of embarrassment. She looked around and noticed that there was a wall of students forming a circle in front of her. "What's going on?"

The girl smirked, "it looks like these two are about to get into a fight." Her jerked her thumb out to the middle of the circle. The girl kindly stepped to the side to let Opal push her way into the circle.

In the center there were two students, a male and, what looked like, a female.

The male was, tall with muscular arms shown out of a black sleeveless hoodie, his hood up covering most of his jet black, shaggy hair. The jacket hung down to the knees and underneath was a dark t-shirt, black combat jeans and.. a bionic leg? This guy looks like he's seen more action than anyone else here. In his hand he gripped a large battle axe. The bulk of the blade, looking like a jet engine, flames pouring out the back. He wore dark sunglasses but was obviously glaring, gritting his teeth at the woman across from him.

The woman was tall, thin, where plain gray clothes. The top was a long sleeve hoodie, cut to show her midriff, her hood was up and a mask was pulled over her mouth and nose. Her pants looked loose but designed for mobility. Her hands wore silver, bone-like gauntlets lining the back of her hand and her fingers.

They spoke calm, but their voice didn't give away any specific gender, "you really want to do this here, Sero?"

"You promised me a rematch, Nero," said Sero, "afraid you'll lose?"

Nero looked around at the crowd formed around them, "I'm afraid I'll embarrass you."


End file.
